Taming Wilderness
by Written Angel
Summary: Alistair's view about his Dalish partner, the romance, the heartbreak, the return. One-shot, possible two-shot. Slightly poetic, who knows.


She was ferocious and wild: hidden behind a wall of calm. A jungle cat, full of grace and unafraid. He knew when he saw her that he would lover her forever.

She burned brighter than the sun, though her hair was the shade of night. And when he looked into her eyes he could find the tempest of emotions bottled away. Her words fell like snowflakes onto his ears; soft and inviting until some her ire would spark and a blizzard would rage. Her touch like the wind: soft, cool, and always present, but it would easily burn, just as easily slice. (For some reason he it all made him admire her more.)

Maker's breath she was extraordinary, not only the beautiful shell he had first thought. Nature seeps from her very being, bringing the forest with her in every step. Making her a foreign beauty among the stone wall in any city. He'd watched her during the trials, unsurprised when she'd passed, but what stuck in his mind was how she moved in the wilds. Almost as if the woods spoke to her on a personal level. Relaying paths and people, especially those that were evil.

She was Dalish, and unusual conscript for the Grey Wardens, but she wouldn't let her difference define her. She accepted all who came to her, even defended those that hadn't, a figure of righteous fury if one he had ever seen. Her size did little to determine her strength, she was stronger than he could hope to be-a reason why he chose her to lead. She was bred and taught the leader way while he was just some bastard son who could never hope to compete.

But that didn't keep him form loving her.

Yet when he saw her in the Brecillian Forest, laughing, talking, thriving, surrounded by nature and all of her people, he knew he couldn't ask her to stay with him.

She belonged here, where she was home. Not running as a fugitive, the fighter in a war.

Though he couldn't stop loving her-trying only made it greater-and so he gave into temptation: bonding with what was out of reach. Her lips spoke love, her body too. telling in a language that spoken word gave limitations to. He knew her deeper now, better, at a level only soul mates could proclaim.

He was driving a stake into his heart.

He knew what he had to do, he told himself it was for her own good day and night. Bit by bit, word by word, moment by moment he began driving himself from her. Forming a wall between them. Pretending not to see the anguish in her eyes, or hear her sobs as she cried.

He swore this was how it was supposed to be: she was never meant for him anyway.

She was fiery, strong, gentle, and kind, a force to be reckoned with that would have the mountains bowing at her feet. He wasn't good enough to hold this piece of nature. She deserved to be free, alive, not stolen from the light.

Stone walls couldn't be allowed to keep her, he shoved her way to ensure she would run across fields, through the woods. Always in the sun. He couldn't expect to always hold her. She proclaimed freedom. Wildness no one could hope to collar.

So he sent her away, his insides dying, knowing better than her that this would be trying. She was meant to be unshackled, something he gravely understood. Heart shattered, stomach of lead, he watched her leave, full of dread.

He loved her with all he was, she was his heart, his soul, his thoughts, his goal. This crown upon his head was valued at nothing, she was worth more than the breath in his lungs. He desired only to stay with her and maybe if he wasn't the kings son, he could have left with her after they won. They could live in the forest, free from their troubles, and he could see her flourish out there away from the stone.

A dream, a fantasy, not close to reality. After all, she was already gone.

The sun left, desire did too, as he stared across the courtyard she had disappeared through. As he turned away, warmth left his body: leaving him hallow, doubting, tormented, and broken. But he'd done this for her he had to remember. That she would be safe, happy, where she belonged. Even though all he could feel was pain.

Then the sun peaked over the horizon and he begged the maker she would forgive him. Not even a day and he had already fallen. Despite what he'd done, despite what he'd said, she was his undoing and he adored her none the in his eyes he wept at the sky and confessed all that had happened.

When the wind reach out and caressed his face.

The sun had risen, bringing nature with it. His sins laid bare, she knew what he'd dared and wiped away his tears. Her love rained down on him, bottled sea broken, and he led her tight enough to hear her heart beat while soft snow fell on his ears.

She was ferocious and wild but here with him was where she belonged. And while it's true nature embodied is not one to be contained;

That does not mean she cannot be tamed.

* * *

 _Just a little thing that came to me the other day listening to Alistair in Dragon Age. Hope you enjoyed it! Haven't decided if I'm going to make this a two-shot and write from her point of view or not. We'll find out later I guess._

 _Don't forget to tell me what you think!_

 _Thank you and goodnight._

 _W.A._


End file.
